The results of Ragnarok Transcendence is pretty simple.
A. WP simply cannot afford to caught up the price Gravity is asking for Zero.
B. So to keep their promises, they decided to implement some minor upgrade packages from kRO into the same old Ragnarok engine and give it a new name--Transcendence. We all know that the old servers that was previously used to host Restart and Classic are still around right? It makes economically sense to make good use of these servers sitting on the shelves.
C. The main RO1 servers will go sub 800 players once RO1 re-opens because players have already found better games to play.
I think 2020 will finally be the death of RO1 forever. Happy holiday everyone!
I fear this is what we can expect from this bold decision of closing down the server for 2 months amid vacations and holiday season. We will likely see an even smaller population in chaos once it comes back. People will be dubious as to the future of the game considering they've probably found other games to play. Two months is more than enough time to get hooked on another MMOG.
I've only returned to iRO recently and I'm truly sad that this has happened. I doubt the overall results of this hiatus will be positive anyway what so ever.
As for Transcendence, it seems to be a 'member berries soup above all and highly dependent upon a greater community engagement for any sort of progress or fun in the game. Once iRO returns there will likely be an even smaller number of players in ROT than in Classic and hardly anyone will be able to progress given how hard it is to level up alone.